When consumer advocate Clark Howard and his wife Lane wanted to make improvements to their home that would save them money on utility bills over this past winter, they contacted Southface to first identify the problems.

Southface residential staff Sydney Roberts and Howard Katzman performed a Southface Home Assessment on the Howard’s 18 year-old Atlanta home. This assessment is modeled after the Southface Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program in which Southface trains contractors to use a whole-house approach to inspect homes, diagnose problems and offer solutions. The contractor provides the homeowner a list of recommended improvements prioritized by cost effectiveness that the contractor can perform. Southface performs quality assurance on the contractors. Additional information is available at www.southfacehomeperformance.com.

	The results of Clark Howard’s assessment were reported in the Winter 2006 edition of the Southface Journal and are summarized in Table 1. This was Clark Howard’s homework for getting the most bang for his buck. Southface found that the most cost effective improvements for this home would be to improve the air tightness of the ductwork, improve the air tightness of the house itself, and improve attic kneewall insulation. Increasing overall attic insulation was also recommended. Some of the holes that were found hidden in the house are visible in the "before" photo taken in the attic (Figure 1a). When Southface first tested the tighness of the ductwork in the attic, leakage was measured at 29%. While not an unusually high amount compared to rigid metal duct systems, this means that a significant portion of conditioned air was lost to the attic, and that unconditioned and unfiltered air was drawn into the system through leaks in the return side of the ductwork. Research has shown that sealing duct leakage typically can reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling by 10-25%. As a solution, the Howards chose to have the metal ductwork sealed and insulated (Figure 1b). In doing this, the improvement contractor found and replaced a duct that had been crushed by previous workers in the attic (Figure 2). This repair increased airflow to one of the bedrooms. Also, the connections where the ducts enter the room through the drywall were sealed with caulk. By taking these steps, duct leakage was reduced to 13%. That is a 55% improvement!

Like the ductwork, the entire house was tested for air tightness with a blower door. Prior to making improvements, the house was experiencing 0.51 air changes per hour under normal conditions (ACHnat). To provide context, EarthCraft House standards require homes to have 0.35 ACHnat or less; smaller is tighter. These leaks were coming from many different spots in the home including through attic access doors, unsealed recessed lights, plumbing and electrical penetrations, chimneys, and around windows and doors. These leaks are directly related to energy, and money loss.

The Howards took a multi-pronged strategy for sealing the leaks. Plumbing, electrical and other penetrations were sealed with spray foam (Figure 3). Chases were covered with foam board and the edges sealed with spray foam (Figure 1b). Insulated, airtight boxes were built over leaky recessed can lights. The attic kneewall door was weather-stripped and a threshold was installed. On the attic side of the pull-down stair, an Attic Tent™ was installed. Additional weather stripping was installed on some exterior doors. All of these improvements added up to a 31% improvement in air tightness, bringing the value to 0.35 ACHnat.

When we first inspected the house, the attic kneewalls, the vertical walls separating attic from living space, were insulated with poorly installed fiberglass batt insulation. Additionally, the floor joist cavity running under the kneewall (separating the first and second floors) was open to the attic. These conditions made one particular bedroom much hotter in the summer and colder in the winter than the rest of the home. The solution was to replace the batt insulation on the kneewall with spray foam and to block off the joist cavities with foam board and use spray foam to seal the joints. Spray foam is ideal for vertical applications because it will not fall out like batts have a tendency to do.

Blown cellulous insulation was added to the attic floor, increasing the effective R-value from 24 to 40. While a lower priority than the other improvements in this case, adding attic insulation is relatively simple and affordable. For all homes, the effective R-value of attic insulation should be at least R-30.

An important part of taking the whole-house approach to improvement work is to maintain the health and safety of the occupants. At the final inspection, Southface performed a combustion safety test to ensure that gas water heaters would not back draft under normal house operating conditions. The Howard’s home passed the test. In homes that do not pass, carbon monoxide, moisture and other combustion gases can be drawn into the home with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Clark Howard and his family have experienced incredible comfort benefits as a result of these improvements. Lane reports, “I love it. The house is so much more comfortable. I mean, a real change.” Now, all rooms in the house are the same, comfortable temperature; there are no longer certain rooms that are hotter or colder than the rest of the house. The drafty feeling is gone. Additionally, it is very easy to maintain a constant temperature throughout the entire house all day and all night long. The family no longer adjusts the thermostat, relying instead on the programmable thermostat to keep the house comfortable while still setting the temperature back at night for greater energy efficiency.

A surprise benefit has been the reduced noise of the heating and cooling system. In the past, it was not uncommon for the noise to wake up their young daughter in the middle of the night. She, in turn, would wake up her parents. Since the improvements were made, everyone is sleeping through the night.

Further, respiratory system symptoms have lessened for affected family members. Lane no longer awakened on mornings this past winter to a scratchy throat. Clark suffers from asthma but reports that his symptoms have lessened.

Following the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR protocol provided a quantitatively-based road map for making whole-house improvements for Clark Howard and his family. The Howard’s were empowered to make smart decisions regarding their home improvements that have resulted in increased comfort in the home. Lane Howard paid the process and the improvements the highest compliment, saying, “I love it. I would do it again.”